1. Related Field
The present invention relates generally to a system for locating, identifying, and recovering a manufactured article. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system using radio-frequency identification tags to recover lost or stolen consumer products.
2. Description of the Related Art
Systems have been developed to more accurately track inventory through a distribution network, or supply chain, and deter theft of items from distribution network. One such system is known as radio frequency identification (“RFID”). The RFID system includes a relatively compact and low-cost label, referred to as an RFID tag, and an RFID reader. The RFID tag includes a small integrated circuit (“IC”) for basic communications, and a memory circuit for secure data storage. The data stored in the memory may be read by interrogating the tag with radio-frequency (“RF”) signals from the RFID reader.
The RFID tag is affixed to an item, product packaging, or a shipping container. The RFID reader may be positioned at various locations in the supply chain to read an RFID tag as it passes through the supply chain. The RFID reader may be placed at a dock of a manufacturing facility or warehouse, at a shelf on which inventory is stored, proximate a check-out counter, or a point of egress for a store. When the RFID tag passes within range of the RFID reader, the RFID reader reads the data stored on the RFID tag. The data may include a quantity of items, the types of items. Based on the location of the RFID reader and the date or time that the RFID tag was read, the item may be accurately tracked as it moves from manufacturing to the point of sale. If the item turns up missing, the last known location may be determined.
The data stored on the RFID tag is typically useful only to the manufacturer, distributor, or vendor of the item(s). When an item is purchased by a consumer, the data on the RFID tag may be disabled or erased by the retailer. An RFID tag that is affixed to the product packaging is usually discarded after the purchase of the item. Even if the RFID tag is not disabled, erased or discarded, the data stored by the tag may not have any relevance to the consumer of the item since it relates to tracking of the item through the supply chain.
Although efforts have been made to use technology in the theft-deterrent area, little has been done to make use of technology to improve the recovery of stolen or lost manufactured items. In addition to the costs of the loss of the item to the owner, insurers and law enforcement agencies incur costs associated with not being able to identify the owner of the mislaid or misappropriated item. A law enforcement agency that reclaims a stolen item often has little means for verifying or identifying the owner of the reclaimed item. Automobiles may be an exception because they are traceable to their owners through the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) attached to the automobiles and registered with the state motor vehicle agencies. However, obtaining the VIN, sending it to an appropriate department to manually input the number in a state computer system and transmitting the identification of an owner to the appropriate personnel is often time-consuming and labor intensive. A similar system for low-cost consumer goods has heretofore been uneconomical or impracticable on a wide-scale. Attempts to replicate this system on a voluntary basis with lower cost manufactured items, such as bicycles, for example, have not met with wide scale success. This is likely attributed to, on the one hand, the labor-intensive requirements on part of the consumer to manually affix a permanent number on the bicycle, such as by engraving, and then register the number with the appropriate community organization, and, on the other hand, the consumer's belief in the low likelihood of a bicycle being identified as stolen and recovered by the local police authorities.
In urban areas, for examples, law enforcement agencies may not have sufficient resources to collect and search records for the many recovered items. Identification of the owners of unregistered consumer items is often labor intensive, and rarely results in the items being returned to the rightful owner. Consequently, the reclaimed item may be stored in an impound or a “lost and found” collection. The lost or stolen item, although reclaimed by the law enforcement agency, may be deemed a complete loss by an insurer who may consequently be obligated to reimburse the owner for the replacement cost of the item. Such reimbursement may not otherwise be necessary if the owner could be identified in a cost-efficient manner at a fraction of the value of the consumer good. While use of RFID systems have been implemented in a controlled environment where known quantities of items travel through known destinations in known timeframes under the control of a single authority, such as a manufacturer, warehouse, vendor or retailer, no one has heretofore overcome the technical challenges applying RFID technology to an infrastructure that requires collecting, arranging, tracking, searching, and accessing data for numerous items of various owners and that may rely upon efforts of multiple independent entities.
Accordingly, there is a need for implementing a technological solution for identifying and recovering a mislaid or misappropriated manufactured article.